Hand-Binding 'A Christmas Carol' - Part 1 of 3 - Printing, Sewing & Edge Decoration with REAL GOLD

Рет қаралды 46,980

5 ай бұрын

Hello Everyone!
Every Christmas I make a point of making a gift for a friend or loved one, and this year is no exception. Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' is my wife's favourite Christmas story, and so this year I've decided to make a special copy just for her. And the good news for you is that you'll get to share in the creation of this book in three virtually back-to-back installments, which I'll be premiering over the next few days before Christmas. So grab yourself a bowl of hot punch, sit back, and enjoy!
I've chosen to bind this book in a style that would be familiar to Dickens himself. The book is sewn on cords that are 'sunk', being sawn into the text block rather than pierced. This was a faster binding method that came into vogue in the 1800's as demand for books increased.
A shoutout to Reddit user u/ellipticcurve, who typeset and imposed (and freely shared) the 1915 edition of Dickens' classic book, featuring illustrations by Arthur Rackham. Not having time to format the book myself, their meticulous work was exactly what I needed to get this project off the ground. If you're a Redditor, head on over to r/bookbinding and give them an upvote!
I've chosen to give the book some extra ornamentation with both paint and 24 karat sprinkled gold leaf. Many thanks to Glenn Malkin of @bookbindingtips for his invaluable video on this technique. Thank you for sharing your knowledge Glenn!
In the next two installments I'll cover the book fully in calf leather, weave silk endbands, and make an attempt at genuine gold tooling, and all on a deadline to boot, so wish me luck!
Cheers!
Dennis
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Пікірлер: 144

@sjgrover

Very nice! I bound copies of A Christmas Carol in 2009 for family gifts (nowhere near as nice as yours are!). I don't know if anybody else in my family still has theirs, but I read mine every year.

@juz4kix

Not a fan of the ASMR format. I enjoy hearing your comments on the process.

@valentinerose

Deadlines are crazy. Even just binding for someone else is so much harder than when it’s just for yourself! I bound the first copy of my mom’s book (I was inspired by your medieval binding series), and it turned out pretty well, I got the majority of it done relatively quickly. I started to bind copies of the same book for a friend-admittedly, in a different style-and so many things have gone wrong. 🤪Practice makes perfect, I guess! This is beautiful already! I’m sure your wife will love it, and I can’t wait until part two!😄

@DavidsProjekt 19 сағат бұрын

This is nice, a project that's not massive. You don't lose interest and it's over before it becomes a job.

@changer1285

What program do you use to print it out so that the pages are in the right order for folding it in signatures?

@thisnicklldo

Beautiful. What I know about bookbinding is just from your channel, so I would have bet good money that pasting, painting and gold-leafing the edges would have permanently stuck the pages together - and you just riffled them gently and they were totally free; so I lost my bet, who'd have thunk it.

@Sams911

did I see correctly? are you printing the book on a regular home inkjet printer? Will that last a long time? I've always wondered besides old fashioned letterpress, what is the longest lasting media?

@mags8014

Absolutely riveting! Painting and burnishing the gold edges was wonderful to watch. You always make everything look far easier than I am sure it is, and the finished product is always a work of art. Looking forward to the next part! Thank you.

@_WOLAND_

Wow! Never would've expected that gold leaf on the concave head and tail edges. You always manage to impress me. Thanks for the early Christmas gift!

@microstrader

Wow...that edge trimmer!

@hyrumdobosz8939

I love watching you work. Watching the creation of something beautiful is always therapeutic.

@PendragonDaGreat

That crackle as you broke the glue and gilding between the pages was something else.

@Kwstr42

oh this has me excited. i love this story. i have a 1916 copy of a short story book with this story in it i would read each year. but this year i get to read a more original version of the book.